Vengeance Rides an Angry Horse, the fourth full-length album from New Jersey's Exxplorer, is the kind of old-school Heavy Metal album that the band could easily have released back in the mid 80s when they were getting started. Layers of riffs ride over the pounding bass and drums with the kind of lyrics that made many a band a staple for those Saturday night AD&D marathons. The songs themselves are standard with none standing much higher than the others. There's nothing to hate, but nothing to get overly excited about either. The production is 80s all the way. The guitars are out front with the bass down low. The drums are somewhat thin and the vocals are given an artificial echo that makes them sound sort of removed from the rest of the song. Guitarist Kevin Kennedy is the star of Vengeance Rides an Angry Horse, in my opinion, with his creative solos. Singer Lenny Rizzo seems to struggle keeping up with the tempo once in a while and he is occasionally flat, but those issues get less noticeable the more you listen.

Fans of early Omen and Jag Panzer should certainly appreciate Vengeance Rides an Angry Horse. Exxplorer aren't trying to reinvent the wheel, just create some ass-kicking Heavy Metal. It doesn't quite reach that level but is a valiant effort nonetheless.